Reproducing device



(No Model.)

0. A. CHASE. EEPRODUGING DEVICE.

No. 545,422. Patented Aug. 27, 1895.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEicE.

CHARLES A. CHASE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE CHASE ELECTRIC CYCLORAMA COMPANY, OF ILLINOIS.

REPRODUCING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 545,422, dated August. 2'7, 1895.

Application filed January 25, 1894. Serial No. 498,054. (No d l.) I

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES A. CHASE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Reproducing Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to reproducing devices, and has for its object to provide means whereby a complete landscape can be reproduced. In the ordinary use of reproducing devices, such as stereopticons, a portion of the landscape is usually reproduced upon a flat surface.

My invention results 'ingronping a number of projecting devices at the center of, for example, a spherical, polygonal, or cylindrical room, so as to reproduce upon the inner surface of such room a complete landscape.

vI have illustrated one means of realizing my invention in the accompanying drawings,

wherein Figure 1 is a vertical section through a spherical room, showing stereopticons in position. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of same.

Like parts are referred to by like letters throughout both the figures.

The outer wall of the building A is shown as made of brick. The inner or spherical wall B may be made in any suitablg manner. It will be understood that the room may be spherical, polygonal, cylindrical, or the like. At the center of the building is a support. 0, the top of which is approximately at the center of the room. On the top of the support are several stereopticons H II. In the drawings six of these stereo-pticons are shown arranged in a circle at equal distances apart and inclosed in the apartment D. Attached to the support C are the platforms E E, upon which the spectators stand. A stairway F leads to such platforms. There is an opening K at the top of the building for ventilation.

J is a supported platform for excluding from the room the light tending to enter the opening K.

G is a wall to exclude the light from the interior of the room, and which also acts as a support for the platform E.

The lines I I represent the limits of the vertical compass of the stereopticons and the lines I I the horizontal limits. It will be noticed that the vertical compass is represented by an arc of a circle less than a semicircle, and hence there will be a portion bounded by the lines I I at the top and at the bottom of the building which will not be shown. These portions are composed of the sky and ground, and the landscape is practically complete. The area bounded by the lines I I and the lines I I represent that portion of the landscape reproduced by one of the stereopticons. In the case shown in the drawings there are six stereopticons and hence six of such portions, and they will be joined together so as to form a continuous landscape. I have suggested stereopticons; but, of course, it is to be understood that I do not. wish to limit myself by this word. Any suitable reproducing or projecting device will suffice.

It is evident that the construction, form, and arrangement of these several parts may be greatly altered without departing from the spirit of my invention. For example, I may use a different form of projecting device than herein described, and I may use such device in connection with a polygonal, spherical, or cylindrical shaped room, and I do not, therefore, wish to be limited to the exact construction shown.

The use and operation of my invention are as follows: If it is desired to reprod cos a given landscape for use in myinvention,such landscape is photographed in sections from an elevated point with an instrument made especially for the purpose. Such work is known as horizon photographs. The horizon may be divided into a numbersay sixof equal portions, each portion being photographed upon a separate negative; or if the horizon were divided into, say, two portions, the negatives would be divided after the picture was taken. The plates are then prepared from these negatives, and the reproducing or projecting device is so made that. when placed in position in their correct order the complete horizon or landscape is reproduced upon the walls of the spherical, polygonal, or cylindrical room. The lines where the views from the different instruments mee-t'will not be readily discernible. Persons upon the platforms E E will thus see the landscape as it would appear if they were standing at a point where the photographs were taken.

hen views of parts of a landscape are reproduced upon a fiat surface, an adequate idea of the size, location, 850., of the different objects cannot be obtained, while when reproduced in the manner herein described the entire horizon appears, and everything in view from the point where the photograph is taken will be reproduced exactly as it appears when seen from such point. It will thus be seen that landscapes from all parts of the world can be reproduced so that the spectators may see them as they would appear when seen in reality, and that the interior of the buildings maybe reproduced so as to appear to the spectators as seen from within. By this manner of reproducing views a person can get a better idea of the different parts of the world without actually going there than in any other manner heretofore devised. In fact he may see such views exactly as they would appear if seen on the ground. A series of scenes may thus be reproduced. For example, a view of the VVorlds Fair grounds maybe given to remain in sight for a definite periodsay ten minutes-then a view within the Manufacturers Building, and then a View on Lake Michigan, assuming that the subject he the IVorlds Fair.

To avoid confusion, I have preferred to employ the term polyhedral to represent the shape of the apartment, and this term I use in its broadest sense, as it is plain that the apartment might be spherical, cylindrical, polygonal, or the like.

In all my experiments I have used a cylindrical or polyhedral room, and am therefore unable to say whether or not there are any practical difficulties that would make aspherical room objectionable. I show a spherical room in the drawings, because I consider such construction an ideal construction for accomplishing the object of my invention, provided, of course, that there are no practical ditficulties that would make the use of such a room 7 objectionable.

section views joining or hlending'into each other so as to make a continuous reproduction.

2. The method of reproducing landscapes or the like, consisting in photographing the entire horizon from a given point, dividing the negatives or photographs into sections and preparing stereopticon plates from such sections, and then inserting said plates in a number of reproducers or stereopticons arranged so that the several sections will be projected upon a receiving surface, the contiguous or adjoining sections blending or uniting so as to form a continuous horizon View.

3. The combination in areproducing device of a number of reproducers adapted each to reproduce a separate view, areceiving surface upon which said views are projected, said reproducers being associated with each other and with the receiving surface in such a manner that the several views reproduced by them are projected upon the receiving surface so as to be joined 0r blended into a continuous reproduction.

4. The combination with a polyhedral shaped apartment, of a number of repro' ducers or stereopticons grouped near the center of such apartment and a series of views, slides or plates taken from agiven point, each reproducer adapted to project aseparate View upon the wall of the apartment and arranged so that the several views are joined or merged together, whereby difierent views taken from a given point, each comprising part of the horizon, shall be reproduced upon the wall of said apartment so as to show a continuous View of the entire horizon.

5. The combination with an apartment of a polyhedral form, of a number of reproducers or stereopticons grouped near the center of such apartment and placed at an equal distance apart and a series of views, slides or plates taken from a given point, each reproducer adapted to project a separate view upon the wall of the apartment and arranged so that the several views are joined or merged together, whereby different views taken from a given point, each comprising part of the horizon, shall be reproduced upon the wall of said apartment so as to show a continuous view of the entire horizon.

CHARLES A. CHASE. Witnesses:

WALTER J. GUNTHORP, ALICE H. GEDDES. 

